Bill Text: CA AB261 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Pupil records: privacy rights.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2010-01-14 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB261 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB261-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 261	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Salas

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2009

   An act to amend Sections 49076 and 49076.5 of the Education Code,
relating to pupil records.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 261, as introduced, Salas. Pupil records: privacy rights.
   Existing law prohibits a school district from permitting access to
pupil records to any person without written parental consent or
judicial order, except as provided.
   This bill would make various changes to those access to pupil
record provisions to conform them to federal law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 49076 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   49076.  A school district is not authorized to permit access to
pupil records to  any   a  person without
written parental consent or under judicial order except  that
  as set forth in this section and as permitted by Part
99 (commencing with Section 99.1) of Title 34 of the Code of Federal
Regulations  :
   (a) Access to those particular records relevant to the legitimate
educational interests of the requester shall be permitted to the
following:
   (1) School officials and employees of the district, members of a
school attendance review board  appointed  
established  pursuant to Section 48321, and  any
  a  volunteer aide, 18 years of age or older, who
has been investigated, selected, and trained by a school attendance
review board for the purpose of providing followup services to pupils
referred to the school attendance review board, provided that the
person has a legitimate educational interest to inspect a record.
   (2) Officials and employees of other public schools or school
systems, including local, county, or state correctional facilities
where educational programs leading to high school graduation are
provided or where the pupil intends to or is directed to enroll,
subject to the rights of parents as provided in Section 49068.
   (3) Authorized representatives of the Comptroller General of the
United States, the Secretary of Education, and 
administrative head of an education agency,  state education
officials, or their respective designees, or the United States
Office of Civil Rights, where the information is necessary to audit
or evaluate a state or federally supported education program or
pursuant to a federal or state law, provided that except when
collection of personally identifiable information is specifically
authorized by federal law,  any  data collected by
those officials shall be protected in a manner  which
  that  will not permit the personal identification
of pupils or their parents by other than those officials, and
 any  personally identifiable data shall be
destroyed when no longer needed for the audit, evaluation, and
enforcement of federal legal requirements.
   (4)  Other   In accordance with Section 99.31
of Title 34 of   the Code of Federal Regulations, 
state and local officials  or authorities  to  whom
 the  extent that  information  is
 specifically  required   is allowed
 to be reported  or disclosed  pursuant to state law
adopted prior to  November 19, 1974,   and state and
local officials or authorities to whom the information is
specifically allowed to be reported or disclosed pursuant to state
law adopted after  November 19, 1974.
   (5) Parents of a pupil 18 years of age or older who is a dependent
as defined in Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1954   1986  .
   (6) A pupil 16 years of age or older  ,  or 
having   who has  completed  the 10th
 grade  10, and  who requests access.
   (7)  Any   A  district  attorney
who   attorney's office that  is participating in
or conducting a truancy mediation program pursuant to Section
48263.5, or Section 601.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or
participating in the presentation of evidence in a truancy petition
pursuant to Section 681 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. 
For purposes of this paragraph, a truancy mediation program under
Section 48263.5 concerns the juvenile justice system and the system's
ability to effectively serve, prior to adjudication, the pupil whose
records are released, and the disclosure of those records is
permitted pursuant to, and consistent with, Section 99.38 of Title 34
of the Code of Federal Regu   lations as that section
exists on January 1, 2009. 
   (8) A prosecuting agency for consideration against a parent or
guardian for failure to comply with the Compulsory Education Law
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 48200)  of Part 27
 ) or with Compulsory Continuation Education (Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 48400)  of Part 27  ).
   (9)  Any   A  probation officer or
district  attorney   attorney's office  for
the purposes of conducting  a criminal investigation or
 an investigation  in regards to   for
juvenile adjudication,  declaring a person a ward of the court
or involving a violation of a condition of probation  , 
 where the records are relevant to the legitimate educational
interests of the pupil, as these investigations concern the juvenile
justice system and the system's ability to effectively serve, prior
to adjudication, the pupil whose records are released, and disclosure
of those records is permitted pursuant to, and consistent with,
Section 99.38 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations as that
section exists on January 1, 2009.   Law enforcement records
may be released without consent, a subpoena, or a court order 
.
   (10)  Any   A  judge or probation
officer for the purpose of conducting a truancy mediation program for
a pupil, or for purposes of presenting evidence in a truancy
petition pursuant to Section 681 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code.  For purposes of this paragraph, a truancy mediation
program under Section 48263.5 concerns the juvenile justice system
and the system's ability to effectively serve, prior to adjudication,
the pupil whose records are released, and the disclosure of those
records is permitted pursuant to, and consistent with, Section 99.38
of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations as that section exists
on January 1, 2009.  The judge or probation officer shall
certify in writing to the school district that the information will
be used only for truancy purposes. A school district releasing pupil
information to a judge or probation officer pursuant to this
paragraph shall inform, or provide written notification to, the
parent or guardian of the pupil within 24 hours of the release of the
information.
   (11)  Any   A    county placing
agency for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the health
and education summary required pursuant to Section 16010 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code or for the purpose of fulfilling
educational case management responsibilities required by the juvenile
court or by law and to assist with the school transfer or enrollment
of a pupil. School districts, county offices of education, and
county placing agencies may develop cooperative agreements to
facilitate confidential access to and exchange of the pupil
information by electronic mail, facsimile, electronic format, or
other secure means.
   (b) School districts may release information from pupil records to
the following:
   (1) Appropriate persons in connection with an emergency if the
knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or
safety of a pupil or other persons.
   (2) Agencies or organizations in connection with the application
of a pupil for, or receipt of, financial aid. However, information
permitting the personal identification of a pupil or his or her
parents may be disclosed only as may be necessary for purposes as to
determine the eligibility of the pupil for financial aid, to
determine the amount of the financial aid, to determine the
conditions  which   that  will be imposed
regarding the financial aid, or to enforce the terms or conditions of
the financial aid.
   (3) The county elections official, for the purpose of identifying
pupils eligible to register to vote, and for conducting programs to
offer pupils an opportunity to register to vote  if the pupil's
parents, or in the case of pupils 18 years of age or  
older, have not opted out of participation in this voter registration
activity  . The information, however, shall not be used for any
other purpose or given or transferred to any other person or agency.

   (4) Accrediting associations in order to carry out their
accrediting functions.
   (5) Organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of,
educational agencies or institutions for the purpose of developing,
validating, or administering predictive tests, administering student
aid programs, and improving instruction, if the studies are conducted
in a manner that will not permit the personal identification of
pupils or their parents by persons other than representatives of the
organizations and the information will be destroyed when no longer
needed for the purpose for which it is obtained.
   (6)  (A)     (i)    Officials
and employees of private schools or school systems where the pupil is
enrolled or intends to enroll, subject to the rights of parents as
provided in Section 49068. This information shall be in addition to
the pupil's permanent record transferred pursuant to Section 49068.

   A 
    (ii)     A  person, persons, agency,
or organization permitted access to pupil records pursuant to this
section  may   shall  not permit access to
any information obtained from those records by any other person,
persons, agency, or organization without the written consent of the
pupil's parent. However, 
    (B)     However,  this paragraph does
not require prior parental consent when information obtained pursuant
to this section is shared with other persons within the educational
institution, agency, or organization obtaining access, so long as
those persons have a legitimate  educational  interest in
the information  pursuant to Section 99.31 of Title 34 of the
Code of Federal Regulations  .
   (c) Notwithstanding any other  provision of  law,
 any   a  school district, including
 any   a  county office of education or
superintendent of schools, may participate in an interagency data
information system that permits access  by authorized school
officials  to a computerized database  system within and
between   maintained by a noneducational
governmental  agencies or districts as   agency
 to information or records  which   that
 are nonprivileged, and where release is authorized as to the
requesting agency under state or federal law or regulation, if each
of the following requirements  are   is 
met:
   (1) Each agency and school district shall develop security
procedures or devices by which unauthorized personnel cannot access
data contained in the system.
   (2) Each agency and school district shall develop procedures or
devices to secure privileged or confidential data from unauthorized
disclosure.
   (3) Each school district shall comply with the access log
requirements of Section 49064.
   (4) The right of access granted shall not include the right to
add, delete, or alter data without the written permission of the
agency holding the data.
   (5) An agency or school district  may   shall
 not make public or otherwise release information on an
individual contained in the database where the information is
protected from disclosure or release as to the requesting agency by
state or federal law or regulation. 
   (6) A school district, including a county office of education or
superintendent of schools, shall not disclose information into this
interagency data information system. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 49076.5 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   49076.5.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 49076, each school district
shall release  any   the  information it
has specific to a particular pupil's identity and location that
relates to the transfer of that pupil's records to another school
district within this state or any other state or to a private school
in this state to a designated peace officer, upon his or her request,
when a proper police purpose exists for the use of that information.
 As permitted by Part 99 (commencing with Section 99.1) of Title
34 of the Code of Federal   Regulations, the designated
peace officer, or law enforcement agency, shall show the school
district that the peace officer or law enforcement agency has
obtained prior written consent from one parent, or provide
information indicating that there is an emergency in which the
information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the
pupil, or that the peace officer or law enforcement agency has
obtained a lawfully issued subpoena or a court order. 
   (b) In order to protect the privacy interests of the pupil, a
request to a school district for pupil record information pursuant to
this section shall meet the following requirements:
   (1) For  the  purposes of this section  ,
 "proper police purpose" means that probable cause exists that
the pupil has been kidnapped and that his or her abductor may have
enrolled the pupil in a school and that the agency has begun an
active investigation.
   (2) Only designated peace officers and federal criminal
investigators and federal law enforcement officers, as defined in
Section 830.1 of the Penal Code, whose names have been submitted to
the school district in writing by a law enforcement agency, may
request and receive the information specified in subdivision (a).
Each law enforcement agency shall ensure that each school district
has at all times a current list of the names of designated peace
officers authorized to request pupil record information.
   (3) This section does not authorize designated peace officers to
obtain any pupil record information other than that authorized by
this section.
   (4) The law enforcement agency requesting the information shall
ensure that at no time shall any  information
obtained pursuant to this section be disclosed or used for 
any   a  purpose other than to assist in the
investigation of suspected criminal conduct of kidnapping. A
violation of this paragraph shall be punishable as a misdemeanor.
   (5) The designated peace officer requesting information authorized
for release by this section shall make a record on a form created
and maintained by the law enforcement agency  which 
 that  shall include the name of the pupil about whom the
inquiry was made, the consent of a parent having legal custody of the
pupil or a legal guardian, the name of the officer making the
inquiry, the date of the inquiry, the name of the school district,
the school district employee to whom the request was made, and the
information that was requested.
   (6) Whenever the designated peace officer requesting information
authorized for release by this section does so in person, by
telephone, or by some means other than in writing, the officer shall
provide the school district with a letter confirming the request for
pupil record information prior to any release of information.
   (7) No school district, or  official  
officer  or employee  thereof   of the
school district  , shall be subject to criminal or civil
liability for the release of pupil record information in good faith
as authorized by this section.